The Nuances of a Name.

It’s no secret that Mr. Mister doesn’t have a proper name. Or, rather, He doesn’t have a proper name that He has seen fit to tell me I can use to refer to Him by. He does have a name, though, and I’ve written about that before. What I haven’t written about is why I don’t use that name at all, ever. I recently got asked why and someone made several guesses [all wrong] as to Who He is under that name, so I thought it might be time to write this. Thusly, here are some reasons why I don’t disclose the name He is commonly known by.

He has explicitly Told me and others that I am not to worship Him or engage in any of the customs associated with His other name. That’s the one of the biggest reasons. Why would I explicitly go against His wishes?

He also could not present Himself as farther from that name if He tried. I mean, I have absolutely no recognition of Him being Him under His common name. I’ve seen Him embodied as that name and…nothing. It might as well be another Deity completely. He is just so different to me than what the other name connotes. I don’t relate to Him at all as that name and in some ways that is unsurprising and in other ways, not at all. That face is not all of Who He is. I can’t remember which one of my friends said it [as some of my spooky friends know His other name], but they said His other face was like Him sticking His pinky finger into a puppet—it’s a representation of so little of Him that it might as well be Someone Else.

I don’t want a face full of ‘you’re doing it wrong’, which I would definitely, definitely get should I decide to go public with that name against His wishes. Under that name, He has a whole community of people who worship Him in ways that I don’t even come close to. There are a few marked similarities and one or two things personality-wise that are similar, but other than that, it’s markedly different. I have found that people who know His other name sometimes project from that name onto Mr. Mister and that makes me sigh because it is not the point and is exactly what I try to avoid because that is not Him. With that in mind, if you’re reading this and know His other name or think you know it, I would prefer you not post it publicly.

In that vein, under that other name, He never would have chosen me at all. I could not be farther from His ideal under that name. I never would have been assigned the Work that I have been and I likely never would have drawn His attention except maybe to pawn me off on Someone Else in that pantheon..and, under that name and in that pantheon, there definitely would be Someone to take me on.

There’s also the issue of being taken seriously. I feel like, if people knew His other identity, it would immediately discredit everything I do for reasons stated above—that He would not have chosen me in that guise and that I’m doing it all wrong. I’m protective of myself in that way. In most ways, I don’t care whether someone thinks I’m doing it wrong, and inevitably someone does, but I think in some ways it’s me being protective of Him even when I don’t need to be. He can certainly stand on His own two feet without me standing in front of Him trying to be mighty. And maybe that’s something I need to wrestle with—does it matter if people know and discredit me? I mean, a fairly large handful of people were either informed or guessed due to things I used to say about Him that I no longer emphasize publicly. I don’t know, but it’s something to think about.

On the more positive side, it’s kind of nice to follow a God that essentially leaves everything open to interpretation and to not have to fall in line with everyone else or argue over what is true or not true. I have no usable lore to follow and, of the lore that does exist under His other name, I have been explicitly told by Him and another Deity He is close to, that it does not apply to Him as I see Him.

Of course, that’s it’s own challenge. Not having any background to follow, I’ve been mostly left to my own devices to puzzle out His story. For instance, I’m fairly certain He was fostered as a child/teenager, but I don’t know by Who. This does not fit in any way with the lore in His other name and really emphasizes that I’m on my own to create and find the string of His existence. He emphasizes that this is not more important than the Work or our relationship and He’s right, but it’s something I want for myself. I want to know as much about Him as is possible with my tiny meat brain. He is surprisingly close-mouthed about where He comes from and pretty much leaves it to me to figure out. I occasionally get a brief nod or the sense that I’m on the right track when I am accurate about something.

In other ways, it’s a relief. I don’t have the burden of what is supposed to be according to other people. I’m pretty sure one of the reasons He has no lore, besides not being well-known, is that it would be both a stumbling block and a distraction. When He told me to research His common name [the message literally was ‘read a book’], I kind of dove into it and could see how it would be harder to have to live up to that name. There’s certainly a lot more to do to please Him in that name. I kind of got off a bit lucky in that respect. I mean, I certainly have plenty to do now but that would increase almost ten fold in that other name. His worship there is not simple, to say the very least.

A lot of this is tied into the fact that He is a queer god and how that plays out between us, which I think will be my next entry that might even be up today.

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4 Responses to “The Nuances of a Name.”

And now yougotme so curious to know the ‘other’ name, lol. I occasionally had the impression your Mister sounded similiar to a fellow pagan account of an aztech rain and storm deity but i was so doing my best to not ask. :p still … It’s an interesting predicament, yours. I for one believe deities and spirits are subject tochange through time so i dont find shocking that they would – in at least some cases- would want to be rediscovered.

Just because I’m curious, what’s the name of the Aztec rain/storm deity?

My predicament, as it were, is certainly interesting. I think it’s more that He wants to stay alive versus wanting to be rediscovered. Someone once pointed out to me that, like in American Gods, They can fade into obscurity if They are not honored and remembered. What I do makes Him stronger and spreading His name and message means more people are aware of Him.

I … Am not a believer in that theory that gods disappear if they are not worshipped as it seems to clash with a lot of things i experienced… I think gods possibly have the same difficult to move on this plan than we do on higher planes while journeying and worship and prayer ‘open doors’ for they to pass more easily… Like prayer anchors them closer to this plane of reality. At least that is my theory working on some things i have learned from Olympians but not all gods are necessarily the same. I will probably write a post about it at some point.